14 DAY TRIAL // At the beginning of October, it was made public news that, after several dozen people in the US (a total of 41 adults and children spread across 20 states, to be more precise) became sick with salmonella, the country's Food and Drug Administration saw fit to issue a peanut butter recall.
Recent news on this topic informs us that, as further investigations have revealed, the company responsible for this outbreak is Sunland Inc., one of the country's major peanut butter processors.
Thus, several tests have shown that the company's processing plant in New Mexico was “tainted” with salmonella.
“During its inspection of the plant in September and October 2012, the FDA found the presence of Salmonella in 28 environmental samples (from surfaces in production or manufacturing areas) and in 13 nut butter product samples and one product sample of raw peanuts,” reads the official website for the US Food and Drug Administration.
Furthermore, “Four of the peanut butter product samples showed the presence of the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bredeney.”
Having the FDA pull this facility’s registration basically means that Sunland Inc. can no longer market its products, regardless of whether it wants to engage in interstate or intrastate commerce.
The company will only be given permission to once again sell its products once the FDA decides that, thanks to cleaning up and sanitizing procedures, they are once again safe for public consumption.
Interestingly enough, this was not the first time when Sunland Inc. was found guilty of having violated rules and regulations having to do with public health.
“The fact that peanut butter made by the company has been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Bredeney that has sickened 41 people in 20 states, coupled with Sunland’s history of violations led FDA to make the decision to suspend the company’s registration,” the FDA explains.
Hopefully, more information on this topic will soon be made available to the general public.